The Salvation Stinger: fixing my least favorite cocktail

It’s in plenty of movies and TV shows. It’s been in bartending manuals since the 19-teens. It’s on the menu at plenty of respectable cocktail bars. And the thing I just can’t figure out is… why?!

stinger1Often served as a nightcap to mask the smell of alcohol, the Stinger consists of 2 parts brandy (usually cognac) to 1 part white creme de menthe served either up or on the rocks without garnish, and it just tastes awful. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get this thing to work. I’ve played with the ratios. I’ve added fruit and other liqueurs. No matter what I do, the result is always the same: the creme de menthe overpowers everything else, and I’m left with a shaker full of overpriced mouthwash. Oh, speaking of my shaker, most of the traditional recipes I’ve found for this drink call for it to be shaken instead of stirred. This makes no sense since creme de menthe and brandy are both very smooth ingredients, so stirring them for a smoother texture should be the logical way to go. I would understand if the drink had a citrus component, but it doesn’t; it’s just brandy and creme de menthe. So, to sum up, this recipe boggles my mind.

I think the most vexing part is that there are seeds of a good cocktail here. The crisp freshness of mint and the smooth sweetness of distilled fruit– they seem like a perfect combination. The problem lies in the creme de menthe, so let’s nix it. Peppermint schnapps is an infinitely better alternative, and I’ve also got a back porch full of fresh mint. I’m going to go with apple mint because of its complimentary flavor to brandy and its bigger, tougher leaves that hold up well when muddled. Also, I’ve been playing around with calvados (an apple-based brandy from the Normandy region of France), and it should play well with the apple mint, so let’s see what we can do here…

IMG_1760.jpgThe Minty Python
4-5 apple mint leaves
.5 oz peppermint schnapps
2 oz calvados
soda
apple mint sprig
Muddle mint leaves with peppermint schnapps. Gently shake leaves and schnapps with 2 oz calvados, and strain into rocks glass over ice. Top with soda and garnish with apple mint sprig.

Hmm… not bad. I think there’s still something else we can do though. I want to soften that aggressive peppermint flavor, so I’m going to drop the schnapps entirely and substitute a little fresh spearmint. From my work with mojitos, I know that I can build out the mint flavor with lime juice, and I’m also going to add a few dashes of orange bitters to introduce some contrast and a stronger citrus component. At this point, that original Stinger is practically a different drink. It’s become…

Screen Shot 2017-04-27 at 12.23.40 PMThe Salvation Stinger
1.5 oz calvados
.75 oz lime juice
.75 oz simple syrup
2 dashes of Angostura orange bitters
4-5 apple mint leaves
2-3 spearmint leaves
soda
2 apple mint sprigs
lime wheel
Just like how you’d prepare a mojito: muddle syrup and mint leaves and then shake gently with lime juice and calvados. Strain over ice into a rocks glass, top with soda, and garnish with mint leaves and lime wheel.

And that’s how to turn a traditional nightcap into a pleasant summer afternoon drink. The Salvation Stinger is fresh and citrusy, and while it captures the original flavor goals, it actually has no ingredients in common with the original cognac/creme de menthe Stinger. The big difference here is fresh ingredients. The original Stinger relies on an overpowering liqueur; our Salvation Stinger has the freshness of mint with the smoothness of calvados, and all of it is nice and subtle and made more complex by the presence of orange bitters. The seeds of a good drink were there, but it took fresh ingredients to turn my least favorite cocktail into one of my new favorites.

This drink was presented live at the Intersections Festival in Jacksonville, FL on April 29th, 2017.

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